| The experience of the Pittsburgh trolley system in the first four decades of the twentieth century provides insight into the fortunes of mass transit in an increasing automobile dominated environment. Pittsburgh's rugged terrain and three rivers posed challenges to moving people either by trolley or automobile. In addition, the city's development had been shaped by its heavy industry economy, notably the steel industry that employed tens of thousands of workers. Not simply defeated in competition with automobiles, Pittsburgh's streetcar system chronically suffered from a complex, interrelated set of political and economic developments even during its pre-automobile history. This put the trolleys at a disadvantage when confronted with growing automobile competition after World War I. These problems also prevented transit managers and public officials from achieving consensus over various contemplated mass transit improvements. Mass transit suffered further during the 1930s as local politics followed national trends of skepticism and hostility toward public utility companies. Mass transit's history under private ownership must be understood in the context of public utilities. Public officials and private mass transit leadership understood transit as a public utility enterprise, and politics surrounding streetcars and later buses were shaped by utility economics, attitudes, methods, and conventions. In all, mass transportation's history during the twentieth century featured a complex series of historically contingent problems, political, financial, and local. |
